A week-long environment awareness campaign that culminated with an island-wide sapling planting initiative and a ‘Green Walk’ in Colombo, was successfully carried out by the Green Building Council of Sri Lanka (GBCSL) with support from Brandix, an inspirational practitioner and advocate of eco-friendly manufacturing.

The ‘Green Walk’ that encouraged raising voices for a better environment attracted over 3,000 participants, prominent among them the Mayor of Colombo, Mrs. Rosy Senanayake. The walk began at Independence Square and concluded at the Vihara Maha Devi Park’s open-air stadium. The sapling planting campaign to plant fifteen different species across all 25 districts of the island is also currently underway.

The Council’s campaign was targeted at the general public, green business-related organisations and sustainability adopted products and service suppliers. It was organised to create enhanced awareness on the importance of environment protection and to enlighten participants on practical solutions such as savings through green building practices, conservation of the environment, and driving sustainable development to control the harmful effects of climate change and other environmental degradations.

The Green Building Council of Sri Lanka is a consensus-based not-for-profit organisation committed to developing a sustainable property industry for Sri Lanka by encouraging the adoption of green building practices. It is diverse and possesses an integrated representation from all sectors of the property industry and academia.

A spokesperson for Brandix said the Group’s support for this programme was in line with its own sustainability agenda and an expression of appreciation for the efforts of the Green Building Council of Sri Lanka. Brandix built the world’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum-rated apparel factory under the Green Building Rating System of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and has since obtained LEED certification for its facilities in Seeduwa, Koggala and Ratmalana.

One of the latest examples of the Group’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint is a 1.65 MW solar power plant at the Brandix Essentials factory in Batticaloa, which notably is the largest rooftop solar plant in Sri Lanka.

The Brandix Group’s sustainability road map has required the development of its own ‘Eco Index’ — an assessment tool which is used to measure the environmental performance of Brandix factories and offices across the Group. The Index computes percentage reductions in key environmental indicators for Air, Water and Earth as measures are rolled out across Group factories to minimise CO2 emissions, energy and water consumption and solid waste disposal. The Group has set itself the target of becoming 100% carbon neutral by 2020.